Amazon Mortgage Might Be a Thing Soon

There have been a lot of so-called mortgage disruptors entering the space of late, but this might be the biggest yet. Could Amazon Mortgage be in the works? One recent clue says yes.

Earlier this week, HousingWire noted that Amazon appears to be in the process of setting up a mortgage shop, and is apparently hiring talent from a nonbank in the top 10 HMDA lenders.

I believe that includes the likes of Quicken Loans, loanDepot, and Caliber Home Loans, though it’s unclear if any of their former employees are actually involved.

All the publication could say beyond that is Amazon is looking for someone to head up their “newly-formed mortgage lending division.”

A 1-Click Mortgage Sounds Kind of Nice, But…

Amazon makes shopping really easy

Allowing millions of customers to buy millions of items with one click

But mortgages are a different beast

Though the hope is technology will make them a lot easier and faster

If you use Amazon, which I’m going to assume you do, you’re probably familiar with how easy they make everything.

For example, you can setup 1-click ordering that allows you to purchase items you see on the site with a single click of the mouse.

Or you can use a Dash Button to quickly reorder an item you use on a regular basis. You can also get most items delivered to your door in two days, though getting a mortgage in two days is another story.

While home loans will inevitably never be this simple, Amazon does seem to have a knack for making things a little less painful.

Some of the disruptors like Better Mortgage, Rocket Mortgage, and SoFi are already making things easier by allowing loan documentation to be pulled direct from the source, instead of having to print it out and upload it.

I’m not sure how Amazon would innovate in this space, but I’m sure they’d think of a way to do things faster, and perhaps in a more productive fashion while maybe driving the price down.

It probably wouldn’t be good news for mortgage loan officers, who could stand to lose their jobs to automation.

Why Would Amazon Want to Offer Home Loans?

If you’re wondering why Amazon would bother with mortgages

It might be because they see a big opportunity to disrupt

A very antiquated business model that hasn’t changed much in decades

New lines of business are the only way to grow bigger

The next logical question is why? Why on earth would Amazon want to get into the loan origination game? Don’t they realize how chaotic and stressful this business is?

Well, maybe that’s exactly why. Maybe they see an opportunity to make something that hasn’t changed for a long, long time, better.

They recently announced plans to fix the healthcare system, an initiative partly driven by the fact that Amazon has some 840,000 employees to take care of.

Amazon also recently launched a generic line of medicine called “Basic Care” to compete with the likes of Advil and other household names in the space.